Inception Deception
by XxLaBellaNottexX
Summary: Kyra McCloud, a 23 year old college student working on her MBA is suddenly pulled into the world that Dominic Cobb created for himself...his world of inception. Cobb has a new target and he plans on taking Kyra for the adventure of her life. OC/Cobb
1. Getting the Prey

**Alright, so this story is a fanfic trade that I made with a user named -Beyond the Horizon-. She asked me for an Inception fanfic and I only hope that it pleases her. In addition to me writing her a fic, she is writing me a fic, which is turning out great so far. This fic will be atleast 10 chapters but I can probably punch out some more, depending on how the story develops. I hope you all enjoy. Please review!**

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kyra sits at a window pane, staring out onto the streets below her. They were bustling with people and cars. There was a lot of life in this world. Her hand was brought up to her chest, just below her collar bone. Her fingers clasped tightly around the heart shaped pendant on her necklace. She let go of the pendant, letting it hit her with a bit of force. She knew exactly what that meant.

Her blue eyes scanned the streets for her target, hoping to catch the woman quickly. Marlene Scotts, a middle-aged corporate exec, planning her next big move and she wanted to hit it big. Her competitor, Jackson Siegel, didn't want that to happen, for obvious reasons. His company Galaxy Corp. is one of the leading companies in robot technology. Ms. Scotts has been his competitor for years and now she's making some very impressive breakthroughs. Breakthroughs that threaten Galaxy Corps very existence. It's Kyra's job to find out what her plans are. Jackson just would love to get a hold of the blueprints.

If Mr. Siegel can use the blueprints that Marlene has created than he can steal her idea of revolutionary robot that could make him famous. Greed was definitely on this man's mind. Kyra was the first person he spoke to. To be honest, he wasn't sure that extracting was a big business. On the contrary, it was actually a pretty big business. It was illegal, and like drug dealers, there were a lot of extractors.

Kyra's brilliant blues picked up on a small woman, looking to be in her mid-40's making her way down the road. Seeing her face, Kyra knew it was her. Marlene was dressed in a very feminine pant suit. Shaking her head, Kyra moved from the window and out the door of the building she was in. She kept her piercing blue eyes locked onto this woman. As she walked, she had to think of a plan. A plan that would get this woman to tell her everything. She also hoped that this woman wasn't secretly trained and had defenders searching for Kyra. Extracting was always a risky job, that's why she made sure to carry a gun with her. It was currently concealed in a long, stylish coat, just in the event that she needed it.

Marlene stood across the street from her now, looking into a small window, admiring a lovely purple dress. Kyra watched her closely, seeing her cock her head to the side. "That's a very lovely dress." Marlene turned around after hearing the voice of Kyra ring in her ears. Marlene nodded slightly, giving Kyra a polite smile. "Yes, it is. Isn't it?" Kyra, returning the smile, nodded and extended her hand. "I'm Sara Browne. I spoke with your assistant…"

Thankfully, Kyra had done a bit of research before going into this job. She made the mistake, her first time extracting, of going in blind. She almost screwed up her entire program. This time, she was prepared. Ms. Scotts' assistant had set up a meeting with a woman named Sara Browne, a lead electrical engineer in Japan. Sara studied robots, in particular. From Kyra's research, she found out that Marlene Scotts wanted Sara Browne to make the robot.

"Oh yes, that's right. It's nice to meet you Sara." She slightly nodded. "Why don't we go speak somewhere more private?" She motioned for Kyra to follow her. Since Marlene had no idea what Sara looked like, Kyra was able to keep her on appearance.

They walked to a small outside café. Kyra and Marlene sat down and began to chat about the plans. It seemed to Kyra that this woman was going to be easy to break. "I really feel that this robot could revolutionize the way that people live today." Marlene let out a small laugh, as she held her coffee hand in her hand. "You know, it almost reminds me of that children's cartoon, The Jetsons." She laughed again, as she lightly shook her head. "You know, that robotic nanny?" Kyra joined in with her laughter and nodded. "Ah yes, I remember that. It's funny you mention that…that's actually what I was thinking." They both roared with laughter for a few moments. They looked like a pair of old friends, just shooting the breeze.

A few hours passed and Kyra had gotten all the information she needed. Waking up in the real world, she turned her head slowly to look at Marlene, who was sitting across from her, still in a slumber. Kyra looked to her left, seeing Arthur move to grab the dream machine. He smiled over at her. "You alright?" Kyra nodded, quickly standing up. "Yeah, I'm alright. Let's get out of here." They walked swiftly out of Marlene's office and out of the building. They needed to get back to their warehouse as soon as possible. Her employer was still waiting there.

**XxXxXxX**

"…Did you get what I needed?" A man dressed in a black suit sat in a chair across from her. He was leaning back, his legs crossed. His jet black hair slicked back. He looked like the typical slime ball executive. Kyra nodded at him. "I did. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised." The man leaned forward, rummaging through his briefcase and pulling out a notebook. "Tell me everything." Opening to a clean page, he pressed his pencil to the paper, waiting for his treasured information.

Kyra began to weave the tale of what Marlene Scotts was planning on doing with the blueprints and what they contained. The man with the jet black hair just nodded and wrote. There was really no other communication from him. He basically wanted his information and to pay Kyra for her services. After all of his information was received, he stood up and handed Kyra a manila envelope. Kyra smiled up at him as she stood up and extended her hand. He nodded at her once and walked off quickly, leaving Arthur and Kyra staring at each other.

A smirk played at Arthur's lips as he shoved his hands into his pocket. "What a charmer." Kyra laughed and threw the envelope at him. Arthur bent over and picked it up. "Oh is this for me?"

"Oh, shut up." Kyra walked over to Arthur and lightly smacked his arm before taking the envelope from his grasp. Kyra opened the envelope and peeked inside. Her employer had delivered. Shoving a hand inside the envelope, she pulled out a large stack of money. Her employer promised her $20,000 for her services. It seemed to her that it was all there. Just to make sure, she would count it later.

"So Kyra, my friend Cobb is going to be stopping by in a few days. Care to meet him?" Kyra looked up at Arthur, confusion written on her face. Arthur just looked back into her eyes, his face not giving away too much information. The first idea that popped into Kyra's mind was that Cobb wanted to do another inception. Or maybe he just needed a bit of help with an extraction. The second reason seemed a bit far off to her, considering that Cobb was extremely skilled at extracting secrets from people.

Slightly cocking her head to the side, she nodded. "Sure. What for though?" Arthur turned and walked over to his work bench and grabbed a sheet of paper from it. He stood there for a moment before turning around and handing the paper to Kyra. "It's a job Cobb wants some help with." She was right. Cobb needed help. She sighed slightly. "Does this have to do with inception? Planting an idea into someone's mind?" Arthur nodded.

Kyra never believed in inception. Like Arthur, she didn't believe that you could plant an idea into someone's mind. She felt that if you planted an idea into someone's mind they would realize that it wasn't their own inspiration that created the idea, but rather that someone else fed them the idea. She knew that Cobb believe just the opposite. Cobb knew that inception was possible. Arthur even told Kyra that inception was possible, only after he witnessed it firsthand. Arthur told Kyra that Cobb pulled off an amazing inception job. He had planted an idea into a man's mind that his father, an oil tycoon, was disappointed that his son didn't follow in his own footsteps, but instead tried to follow in his fathers. Cobb completely flipped the tables on this man to get him to split up his company, so that Cobb's employer at the time wouldn't lose his company. Kyra definitely had to admit that Arthur's story was impressive but she still didn't think it was possible.

"Kyra… you can see for yourself, first hand, that inception is possible." Kyra folded her arms across her chest as she looked at Arthur. Her mind was racing. A part of her wanted to help Cobb, to really see if inception was possible. Another part of her wanted to stay out of it. If she remembered correctly, Arthur's journey with Cobb went into a three layered dream. If that was how inception needed to occur, Kyra wasn't so sure she wanted to take that risk. Especially if it meant that she could get stuck in limbo.

"I don't know, Arthur. It seems way too risky." Putting a hand to the back of his neck, he rubbed it lightly. "I agree it is risky. But it can be done." He looked over at her, his eyes pleading with her.

Kyra shook her head then sighed. "I'll have to think about it. What does he need me for anyways? I'm only an extractor."

"He's heard about you from me. He thinks you'd be a good investment." Arthur moved over to a chair and sat down, leaning back into it. "He also thinks that if you can complete a successful inception, that you'll be able to form your own teams and do more of them. Thus, making you more money." He laced his fingers together and placed his hands at the back of his head as he stared at Kyra. He studied her expressions carefully. Arthur knew that she didn't like the idea of inceptions, nor that she believed in them. Kyra slowly moved over to a chair across from him, staring at the floor. Her mind was working quickly. "Kyra…"

She looked up at Arthur and smiled. "Yeah okay. I'll see what I can do." A smile appeared on Arthur's face. He was hoping for a positive answer and thankfully he got one. "That's great. You won't be disappointed." Kyra shrugged her shoulders a bit and leaned back onto the chair, lying down. She could only hope at Arthur was right and that she wouldn't be disappointed.

As she lay there, Arthur worked on gathering some information on their target. Kyra couldn't shake the thoughts of the risks that she would be taking if she ended up really taking Cobb's offer. She basically just told Arthur 'yes' to get him off her back for a few moments while she sat down and truly thought about it. Was finding out if inception was possible really that important to her? She wasn't sure. She knew she wanted to meet Cobb. To her, he was almost like a legend. She secretly always wanted to learn something or two from him. Wanting to hone her skills as an extractor, to be as good as Cobb.

Kyra closed her eyes as she laid there and listened to his pencil scratch across the paper. This job was Cobb, still on her mind. No matter what she did she tried to think of a good reason not to do it. Sure, being stuck in limbo was a pretty scary thought but she was more concerned with paying for her schooling, her new apartment, her car, and miscellaneous spending. A manila envelope filled with $25,000 really wasn't going to last her too long, considering her college tuition is about $33,000. Working towards your MBA was expensive, she couldn't deny that.

It was settled. She was going to do this. She needed the money, not to mention the fact that she wanted to know if inception was truly possible. Of course those weren't the only reasons, but they were good enough reasons to make her go. "Arthur…I'll definitely do it."

Arthur smiled contently at his work desk as he kept writing. Something inside of him knew that she wouldn't pass up the opportunity. "I'll let Cobb know." Cobb was going to be thrilled to hear this news. He actually wanted to train Kyra, thinking that she was going to be the next great extractor. If he was able to convince her that inception was possible then she would be become even greater.

Kyra opened up her eyes and got off the lounge chair. Making her way over to Arthur, she placed hand onto Arthur's shoulder and smiled. "Hey it's getting late. I should take off. I'll see you tomorrow." Arthur swerved in his chair, letting Kyra bend down and give him a hug before she departed. Arthur watched as she walked out the door and waited a few moments. He picked up his cell phone and punched in Cobb's number. "…Cobb…it's me. She said she'll do it." Cobb voice rang through the phone as Arthur stood up and walked over to the window, looking down onto the street. Kyra was jogging across the street to her car, not wanting to hold up traffic. "No, no I didn't tell her about that. I just told her that you needed her help." Arthur felt a bit guilty at that moment, knowing that he had slightly lied to Kyra. "Yeah, I'll explain it to her in more depth when you come here. You know, that way you can try to persuade her. I'm afraid that she'll back out if I tell her." Cobb spoke to him again for a moment or so then Arthur said his goodbye and hung up the phone. He watched Kyra pull away and sighed slightly. Maybe this wasn't the best idea after all.


	2. Meeting the Man

**Hey guys, sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've had a lot of things going on. I want to get the next chapter out as soon as possible! Hopefully by the end of this week! Well, you know the drill ...enjoy and review! Oh by the way, this chapter is a bit shorter, only because I did get a bit of writers block and not to mention, I didn't want to give TOO much away. The next chapter will be a lot longer. Promise.**

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A few days had passed and the moment Kyra and Cobb, alike, had been waiting for was finally there. Kyra moved swiftly into the run down looking 'office' Arthur and Cobb had setup for themselves. Arthur spent a lot more time there than Cobb did these days. Arthur sat at his make shift desk, looking over some paperwork, scribbling down notes as he did. Kyra was across the room, pacing back and forth. Her nerves were starting to get the best of her. She couldn't help it. She was so close to meeting Cobb, one of the greatest extractors in the world. Sighing, Arthur turned his head to look over at Kyra, as she continued to pace in front of one of the large windows. "Will you relax, Kyra?"

Stopping abruptly, she looked over at Arthur, a tinge of red in her cheeks. "Sorry. I just … I can't help it. I'm about to meet the greatest extractor there is…" Her voice trailed off as Arthur pushed his chair back and leaned back onto the legs. "He's a normal person…" Arthur raised a brow at his own words then smirked before continuing. "…for the most part." He thought to himself. He thought about Mal and Cobb's darkened past. Arthur now knew why inception was possible. Cobb had told him after their first inception how it was possible. Apparently, Cobb had performed the ritual on his own wife, leading her to believe that the real world was actually a dream. Kyra didn't know any of this information. Arthur felt that it wasn't his place to be spreading around Cobb's past. If Cobb wanted Kyra to know then he could tell her himself, when the time was right.

Kyra smirked at his statement and turned back to the window, peering out of it to the street below her. Her brow rose as she stared at the street. This was beginning to look like déjà vu. She grabbed the pendant around her neck, checking its weight. From what Arthur had shared with her, she knew that Cobb once took a member of his team into the dream world without her knowing. Kyra wanted to make sure that this wasn't some test, involving Arthur. She hand the pendant in her hand, it was light. A lot lighter than it was in the dream world. A small sigh of relief moved past her lips as she let the pendant hit her skin. When she turned back around, Arthur was back to his note taking. His pencil scratching across some notebook paper. She wondered to herself who Cobb's next target was as she watched Arthur write.

"Arthur… and Arthur's friend." A voice sounded from behind her, a voice she wasn't familiar with. Without looking up, Arthur nodded. "Hello Cobb. That's Kyra McCloud." Kyra bit her bottom lip as she turned to face Cobb. There was a small smile on his face as he moved closer to her, extending his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Her cheeks flushed with color again. "It's nice to meet you as well." She took his hand and shook it lightly. Her cheeks were still hot and she wished to God that they would stop flaring up. Cobb smiled a little wider as she took his hand then he turned to Arthur and moved toward him.

"So Arthur… have you gotten enough information on this guy?" Arthur nodded as he wrote down a few more things in his notebook. He slowly looked up at Cobb, his face seemingly expressionless. "I think so. I think I might know more about this guy than his own wife does."

Cobb roared with laughter as he picked up the notebook and went through all of Arthur's notes. "Well that's a bit sad, if you ask me." Arthur nodded in agreement, leaning back onto the legs of the chair again. Cobb turned to Kyra and looked her up and down. He noted her outfit, a white cuffed undershirt with a black vest, accompanied with black pants boot cut pants. To make her outfit worse, she had on small black heels. Cobb brought a hand to his forehead as he examined her. Even though he was looking right at her, he didn't speak to her. "Arthur … this isn't going to do."

Arthur rose as brow as he looked at Cobb then at Kyra. Realization hit him then, Kyra was in the wrong kind of outfit. Cobb obviously wanted to train her somehow. "Ah, I see. Kyra why don't you go put on something more casual?"

Kyra looked between them, clearly confused. "What's wrong with my outfit?" Arthur sighed slightly, opening his mouth to speak. Cobb, however, cut him off. "I wanted to train you for something. You can't run in heels…or tight pants." Kyra's eyes widened slightly. What the hell was he planning exactly? Kyra just nodded at him and walked off into a backroom to change her clothes quickly. Thankfully, Arthur had told her to bring a change of clothes, in case she spent the night. She never thought for a moment that the outfit she chose, mostly to impress Cobb with her professionalism, was going to be thrown back into her bag. She slipped into more casual clothing, a t-shirt, some jeans and some sneakers. Eyeing herself in the mirror, she pursed her lips together. The outfit was going to have to do for now.

Walking back out into the work area, she noticed Cobb laying down on one of the chairs, waiting for her. Arthur sat on a chair, next to the dream machine. Kyra knew hat Arthur would be watching them, waiting to wake them up. Kyra moved over to the vacant chair next to Arthur and lay down upon it. Arthur quickly hooked her up to the machine, while Cobb spoke softly to her. "I just want to make sure you'll be able to handle yourself. Sometimes my subconscious will make itself known in other people's dreams. Granted, we're going into your world, with my subconscious, but I need to make sure that you can handle some of the things that I throw at you."

Kyra just stared at him, curious as to what exactly his subconscious was going to throw at her. Nodding at him, she closed her eyes, slowly drifting off into unconsciousness.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kyra sat at a small desk, tons of paperwork stacked in front of her. She peered down at it, noticing the papers contained bits and pieces of her thesis for college. Raising her brow, she began to look through the papers, not even realizing that she was in a dream. Cobb moved behind her, placing a hand lightly on her shoulder. Kyra nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned quickly and looked up at him, quickly realizing that this wasn't her apartment, but a dream. Of course, to be sure, she held the pendant that hung around her neck and felt how heavy it was. This was definitely a dream.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to frighten you." Kyra shook her head as she pushed her chair away from her desk and stood up. "No, it's alright. I just …" Her voice trailed off for a moment as she stared up at him. "…I just forgot I was dreaming, is all."

A smirk appeared on Cobb's face. "I see." He moved away from her, walking over to a small table and plopping down into a chair. Kyra moved with him, into the kitchen. She sat down at the small table and folded her hands on top of it. "So what sort of things has your subconscious projected before?"

Cobb sighed slightly, placing his hand to his forehead. "Well, on my last job I actually had a freight train make its way down a crowded street. It could have killed me or my teammates." His voice trailed off as he recalled the incident. At that moment, he didn't want to believe or say that the freight train was caused by him. He shook his head at the thought.

Kyra stared at him, taken aback by his words. She couldn't help but wonder to herself how in the hell a freight train could come from his subconscious. Or even how the freight train was significant. "There is … something else … " Cobb's voice sounded a bit worried, a lot more worried than it had sounded a few moments ago. Kyra raised a brow as her eyes scanned his face. "Well … theres this woman who's sometimes present in my subconscious. She's very dangerous."

"Who is she … exactly?" Kyra was obviously confused. It began to become apparent to her that Cobb's mind was a dangerous playground. His subconscious had a dark past and she couldn't help but be curious of it. A part of her wanted to talk to Cobb about his past herself but another part of her thought that it might be a better idea if she spoke to Arthur about it. Then another though occurred to her. Would Arthur even know about Cobb's past? He had to right? There was no way to Cobb wouldn't tell Arthur about someone in his subconscious that was extremely dangerous. Kyra was sure that Cobb wanted Arthur and whomever he worked with to know about these life threatening projections.

Cobb was silent for a moment. His hand was brought to his forehead, where he rested it for a moment before regaining his composure and looking back over at Kyra. "Her name is Mal. She was … " He paused. Kyra saw in his eye that he really didn't want to speak about this woman. However, Kyra was unsure why. What had this woman done to him?

A long sigh escaped Cobb's lips. Closing his eyes, he leaned back into his chair. "She was my wife…" His voice was filled with sadness now. Kyra bit her bottom lip as she watched his expression change so rapidly.

Mal was his wife. Not being able to help herself, Kyra let out a small sigh. At the moment, she didn't understand why but it bothered her to find out that he was married. Married to a dangerous projection. "Who is she? Besides being your wife, that is." Kyra's voice was soft. She wanted to make sure that she didn't upset him. Cobb was obviously going through something with his woman.

Cobb didn't speak. He was actually staring at the floor now. Kyra watched him closely. He was like a statue, just sitting there and staring. He was so still that Kyra could sit there and watch him breathing. Seeing his chest puff out slowly, then slowly deflate.

She didn't know what to do or what to say. Cobb was obviously upset. "Cobb…" A few more moments of silence and staring occurred before he slowly brought his head up. His eyes were void of emotion.

"I'm sorry …" He stood up, running a hand through his hair. "I think that's all for today…" He walked off. Kyra couldn't see where he went but she knew that he had to have awaken by now. She continued to sit at the small table, staring at the door he walked out of, before disappearing around the corner.

She looked out the window of her tiny room, realizing now that it was pitchblack outside. Almost like there was nothing out there at all. It was sort of creepy in a way. As she looked out the window she thought about what Cobb had said to her earlier. "_I want to make sure that you can handle what I throw at you..."_ What he could throw at her? Was Mal what he was talking about? Or was he talking about more than just her, like the freight train? Kyra wondered what sort of things he would throw her at, if Mal wasn't what he had decided to bring up.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Cobb opened his eyes and looked over at Arthur, who looked utterly confused. "What happened?" Shaking his head and getting up from the chair, Cobb said nothing at first. Arthur watched as he moved to the door, making his way out. "…Cobb!" Arthur jumped up and ran after him, catching his arm before Cobb was able to run off down the stairs. "What happened…?"

"I tried telling her about Mal … and I …got a little choked up." Cobb leaned against the wall, shaking Arthur's hand from his arm. Arthur placed a hand at the back of his neck and sighed. "I see…"

"You might have to tell her." Cobb looked at Arthur, his eyes almost pleading with him. "Everytime I think about her now … it's like …" He shook his head and let out a long sigh. He couldn't finish his sentence. Something in Cobb was telling him that Mal might not be gone forever. He knew that Ariadne had helped him get rid of her, in a sense. But he couldn't shake the feeling that she could come back at any moment. She was his wife, afterall. Cobb felt that she was always going to be apart of his subconcious, whether her liked it or not.

"Alright, will do." Arthur pressed his back to the opposite wall and looked at Cobb, seeing his distraught. "I'll tell her everything I can." A small smile broke across Cobb's face. He didn't need to say anything, Arthur knew that Cobb was thankful. Cobb moved over to him and placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder. "Wake her up … I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Arthur watched him jog down the stairs before returning to the room that Kyra was sleeping in. He saw her seemingly lifeless body and walked over to it, taking a bucket of cold water with him.


	3. Malicious Mal

**Hey guys, so there's a new chapter out! Yay! I just wanted everyone who reads this to know that I will be writing another fic for –BeyondtheHorizon- soon, so you should check it out! And please please please check out her stories because they are awesome! Read, enjoy && review!**

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The tapping of fingers on the desk was beginning to get annoying. Kyra glared over at Arthur, who continued to tap. "Arthur … "_Thhhump, thhhump, thhhump. _"…Arthur…" Her voice grew slightl in volume, but Arthur didn't even seem to notice her. His fingers still tapping against the wooden desk. _Thhhump, thhhump, thhhump._ "ARTHUR!" He nearly jumped out of his skin as her loud yell penetrated his ears. "What?"

Kyra raised a brow as she looked at him, a scowl now on her face. "Who the hell was that?" Arthur glanced over at her quickly before looking back at the wall in front of him. His fingers tapping against the desk again. Kyra couldn't tell what sort of emotion he was feeling at the moment. His face looked as if he was slightly worried but yet his tapping indicated that he was irritated.

Arthur opened his mouth and said something. It was so low though that Kyra couldn't make out what he had said. "…What?" Her brow raised again as she tried to study his movements. He wasn't helping her much and his goddamn finger tapping was really starting to bug her.

He spoke again. And again … his voice was inaudible. With a loud sigh, Kyra sat up in her chair and leaned forward. "Stop mumbling, I can barely hear you."

"Mal…her name is …" He let out a loud, frustrated sigh. "Mal."

Mal. Kyra had heard that name before. Cobb had mentioned her a few days ago. That would explained why he exited the room so fast when they all woke up.

Arthur shook his head as he stared at the wall. Kyra didn't notice at first, but Arthur had stopped tapping his fingers. "I can't believe this … I cannot believe this shit…" Arthur ran a hand through his hair as he leaned back into his chair. Kyra watched him, not sure what to say. Not sure how to comfort him. "He said …" Another frustrated sigh. "He said she was gone."

"He told me he … thought she …was…gone…" Arthur whipped his head around to look at Kyra, who looked at him sheepishly. Her voice had lowered in volume, much like his did when he first mentioned Mal's name.

"When did he tell you this?" Arthur's eyes were narrowed as he looked at Kyra. He wasn't upset with her but his anger was reaching a new level. This was a bit out of character for Arthur but she can understand why he was so frustrated with Cobb and his situation with Mal. "He called me shortly after he left that night …" Kyra bit her bottom lip lightly. Arthur's eyes softened a bit. He leaned back into his chair and let out a long sigh. "I see…"

"He…he told me that he thought she was gone. He told me that when you guys did the inception, something happened and he went to Limbo. And in Limbo…" She searched her mind, trying to remember what he had told her. It was bit fuzzy, due to the fact that she really didn't grasp what he was trying to tell her. Cobb was upset the night he called her. He wasn't sobbing or anything of the sort but he seemed to have trouble telling her every little detail. It obviously hurt him to talk about Mal.

She sighed, trying to remember. "In Limbo, Mal was there and something happened and he shot her or something. He said that he thought that would make her go away. But he told that he just can't get her off his mind. No matter what he does, she's always there."

Arthur nodded, understanding what she was telling him. He knew that when they had done the Inception, Cobb still wasn't ready to let her go. He wasn't ready to say goodbye. Cobb had told Arthur that he felt like he was being forced to let her go. That sense of being forced made it to where he would constantly think about her, and think about their past, ultimately bringing Mal back into his subconscious whether he liked it or not. "He wasn't ready."

"Wasn't ready?"

"He wasn't ready to let her go." Arthur leaned forward in his chair, lowering his voice. Cobb may have left the room, but he was more than likely hanging around outside in the hallway, trying to clear his mind. "Cobb felt like he was being forced to get rid of her during and after the inception. The girl that we took with us, Ariadne, somewhat forced him to get rid of her. However, he just wasn't ready. Long story short, he brought Mal back by bringing up memories and such."

Kyra felt a bit weird. For the past few days her and Cobb were working closely with each other. He was trying to prepare her more for what they were doing. He was getting her ready for an inception and a 4 layer dream. Cobb shared a lot with her in those few days and they actually grew closer. Even today, when he walked into the room to greet Arthur and Kyra, he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Recalling the event, her cheeks blushed slightly. Thankfully, Arthur didn't notice. "I see. Well, as long as she doesn't ruin the inception then whatever, right?" Kyra smiled slightly but Arthur looked over at her with a brow raised. His face spoke for him, saying 'You're joking right?'

"…I guess I'm wrong in assuming she'll butt out?" Kyra bit her bottom lip again, feeling foolish. Arthur slowly nodded. "You've assumed right."

They both turned in their chairs when they heard the door squeak open. Cobb walked back in and took a seat next to Kyra. He placed a head to his forehead and slowly moved his hand through his hair. "Kyra I'm sorry about that…I didn't think she was going to show up and I definitely didn't think she was going to attack you."

Kyra wanted to tell him that it was all right but Arthur spoke before she could even open her mouth. "What the hell Cobb? What was she doing there? You need to get rid of her…she'll sabotage this whole thing. Like she did with Saito, the day we were trying to get information from him."

Cobb held up a hand, wanting Arthur to stop talking for a moment. That was useless, Arthur kept going on about Mal and how Cobb needed to make sure that she wasn't going to foil their operation. After a few moments Cobb finally glared up at him and told him to shut up. "Look … I know what needs to be done. Don't force me … it will only bring her back in the future. I can't promise that she won't pop up sooner or later but I am really trying to surpress her."

Arthur leaned back and shook his head. He spoke again, this time his voice was gentler. "Cobb…I know you miss her and you still love her… but please, for the love of God, keep her at bay. We can't have her risking his job … or someone's life."

Cobb hung his head. Kyra had just sat there and listened to them go back and forth. She was unsure of what to say. However, she knew she wanted to the make the situation more calm. Unknowingly she placed a hand onto Cobb's leg as she looked over at Arthur. "All right, let's calm down. We'll think of a way to keep Mal away from the project and away from us. Maybe Cobb can do some …brain exercises or something before we go to sleep. You know … get his mind to think of something else."

Arthur raised his brow and stared at Kyra for a moment. Unbelievable. Arthur knew that Kyra was smart, so why would she suggest such a stupid thing? "Kyra…are you joking? That would never work. If Mal is etched into his subconscious … she's going to come out anyways. So having him think of fuckin' rabbits and puppies before going into the job is going to do absolutely nothing."

"Well…I didn't see you coming up with anything better." Her hand was still placed onto his leg. Cobb was actually looking down at her hand. He didn't want her to move it or anything of the sort. He sort of liked it. It was a familiar feeling. It was a secure feeling. The touch of a woman could always make a man weak and Kyra was no different.

Cobb let his mind drift away as he stared down at her hand. He didn't break from his thoughts until Kyra caught him staring at her hand. And thinking that he didn't want it there, she moved it swiftly and muttered a string of "I'm so sorry." Cobb dismissed it and return his attention to Arthur. "Like I said, I'll try and keep her away. I can't promise anything though." Arthur nodded and agreed that if Cobb tried really hard, he would lay off. He did warn Cobb that if she showed up and tried to hurt anyone or sabotage the mission then he was going to kill her. Reluctantly, Cobb agreed it would probably be for the best.

"So it's settled then…" Arthur and Kyra nodded. Cobb stood up, rubbing the back of his neck. He had some good news for the two of them. "Let's get some rest. Tomorrow we have a day off." Kyra's eyes trailed up Cobb's body to his face. A break? She raised a brow, as did Arthur. He must have been just as confused as she was. "A break, Cobb?" Kyra's voice soft.

"Yeah. I don't want to over work you two. Go home and get some rest." With that said, Cobb made his way to the door and down the stairs. Kyra sat on the chair, baffled. Arthur smirked and stood up, clearing off his desk. "Well that's great. I need a day off." He started putting the mass amounts of papers that were scattered all over his desk into neat piles. Some of them went into folders while other remained on the desk. Kyra slowly nodded as she stood up and followed Arthur to the door. "Yeah I can get back to work on my thesis."

Arthur stopped in the door way and turned to look at her. A smirk slid across his face. He spoke in the most girly voice he could muster. He didn't do that good of a job but hey, it was worth the try. "Oh joy! Oh rapture!" He laughed lightly as Kyra lightly smacked his arm. "Oh shut up and go."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kyra sat at her desk, tapping her pencil against the dark grain of the wooden desk. Her notebook looked ragged. It had been used so many times, all for her thesis paper. At a first glance, you would see the numerous words scribbled up and down the page. The words that were scratched out. Arrows pointing to where a new paragraph was supposed to go or where a sentence or word should be inserted.

She sighed, as she glanced over at her laptop. Her word document was open, the page blank. She really didn't want to do this right now. The world outside her window was bright and full of life today. On her day off. She hoped that she would find it somewhere in her to work on her paper but that just wasn't the case. Her mind wouldn't let her concentrate on her paper, instead it was making her think about Cobb. She wasn't sure why but she wanted to talk to him.

Kyra definitely knew she was attracted to him, but to her, he was still a married man. Cobb's love for Mal was so evident and Kyra didn't want to come in the middle of that. She thought that she would feel like 'the other woman.' Of course Kyra knew that Mal was, now, nothing more than a projection but she still couldn't help but feel like she was coming between Cobb and his memory.

_Knock knock knock._ A light rapping sounded on her door. Kyra turned, got up and walked over to her door. As she went to place her hand onto the doorknob, she heard a somewhat deep voice call out to her. "Kyra … you there?" She recognized the voice immediately. The voice actually made her start to blush. It was Cobb. What was he doing there? Didn't he give her a day off? Maybe he had a change of mind?

She bit her bottom lip and looked around her room, seeing that it wasn't exactly clean at the moment. It wasn't overly dirty or disgusting. There were just a few papers strewn across the floor, the waste basket was filled with crumpled up notebook paper. There was a styrofoam take out box sitting on one end of her paper filled desk, with a dirty fork sitting on top of it.

Kyra had been working all night on her paper. Trying to get as much of it done as she can. She ran a hand through her hair. Placing a fake smile on her face, she opened the door and let her eyes meet Cobbs. "Well … I guess you are here." He laughed lightly and looked over her shoulder at the desk. He looked back down at her, not really caring her cluttered work space. "Are you busy…?"

"Oh…uhh.." She turned around quickly, seeing her desk again. She sighed slightly as she turned back to him. "I was just working on my paper, is all. There something you need…?"

Both of his brows raised as he looked down at her. Her speech was rushed like she was nervous. It almost made him laugh again. He noted how in the past few days Kyra seemed to be a bit skiddish around him. He couldn't really understand why at the moment. He was nothing special, or so he thought. "Well I was just wondering if you wanted to go hang out and do something? You shouldn't be cooped up in this apartment all day."

Kyra glanced out the window, a smile creeping across her face. "Yeah that sounds like a good idea. Can yo just give me five minutes or so? … To get ready." Cobb nodded and moved past her, sitting down onto her couch.

The smile was still plastered onto her face, along with a hint of rose. Her cheeks began to blush again. She had no idea what was coming over her lately. Cobb leaned back into the couch, crossing his legs. His eyes met hers and he gave her a small smile. Realizing that she was just caught staring at him, she hurried off to get changed.

Her sweatpants and sweatshirt just wouldn't look right out in public. She moved swiftly to her closet, pulling open the door. She nearly dived into the damn thing to look for something more appropriate to wear in Cobb's presence. She dug around for a few moments before pulling out a cute skirt and shirt combo. However, she didn't put it on. She walked back into the small living room of her apartment and leaned against the couch that Cobb was still sitting on.

Cobb was looking through a photo album that was laid out on her coffee table. A smirk moved onto her face as she watched him. His expression never seemed to change. He was smiling at every picture he saw of her. "Having fun there, Cobb?"

He jumped slightly, not expecting hre back so soon. "Yeah … I'm sorry. I just got a bit curious." His smile didn't vanish until he turned to meet her gaze. He looked her up and down, noticing she hadn't changed yet. He laughed slightly. "Is that what your wearing out to dinner?"

Her cheeks flashed with color. Dinner? How sweet. Kyra was a bit taken aback at first. She couldn't help but wonder if this was some kind of date. But … was it? Cobb just said they were going out to dinner. Kyra looked more closely at Cobb's attire. He was dressed in a pretty nice suit. She mentally slapped herself for not noticing sooner. She was so caught up in his handsome features that she didn't even give herself a chance to look at what he was wearing. "Dinner sounds nice…" Her voice turned mousy as she looked down at her. He merely smiled up at her then watched her run back into her room.

She knew exactly what to wear now. She was almost a bit excited to wear it. She hadn't put it on in such a long time. Reaching her closet, she smiled at the long black gown that lay hidden inside of it. The garment was just waiting for a special occasion. Thankfully, tonight was a special occasion.

She took the dress out of the closet and stared at it for a moment, taking in its beauty. She hoped that Cobb would love looking at her in such a gorgeous dress. She slipped the dress on. It truly was a work of art, in her eyes. The black strapless dress flowed down onto the floor. It made her look very refined and elegant. She liked that.

Digging in her closet again, she pulled out a shoe box. Inside held her killer shoes. Just the right shoes to accent her gorgeous dress. Granted, they were simple black heels, with a thin black strap over her toes and a strap behind her heel and a strap to her keep foot from falling out of the shoe. It was simple, sleek and it looked perfect.

She moved into the bathroom and began to apply her makeup. She should have done it first but she was so caught up in the moment that she completely forgot. Her makeup was a bit darker than she usually wore it. It accented her features perfectly. She looked flawless. Kyra looked at herself in the mirror as she began to fiddle with her hair. She played with it for a bit, making sure every hair was in place. Kyra wanted to look good.

Back in the living room, Cobb went back to looking at the photos of Kyra. Most of the photos in her photo album were of Kyra when she was little. A lot of them had her family in them. Her mother and father hugging and kissing her. There was even a photo of Kyra graduating kindergarten. Her big, bubbly smile lighting up the picture as she held her little diploma close to her face.

Cobb couldn't help but smile at them. He had to admit to himself that Kyra was adorable as a child. Hell, he had to admit to herself that Kyra was extremely attractive today. Even in her sweatpants, sweartshirt and messy hair, she was still very beautiful. Cobb moved a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it gently. He reminded himself of the age difference they shared but he almost didn't care. Then the memories of Mal flooded into his memory. He sighed heavily. He had to think of a way to get rid of her. To clear her from his mind.

At that moment, Cobb heard the door to Kyra's bedroom open. She walked out, her heels clicking agains the wood floor. Cobb turned slowly to look at her. It was almost like a movie. When the girl is walking slowly down the stairs, and the guy is looking up at her, love present in his eyes.

Cobb smiled wide. "You look beautiful."

That very comment made Kyra blush. "Thank you." Cobb stood up and held out his hand for her. He bowed lightly, laughing a little as he did. "My lady…if you'd please accompany me…"

Kyra smiled and laughed a little at his utter corniness. It was extremely sweet though, she couldn't lie about that. "Of course, sir." She took his hand and they moved out her front door into the hallway. They made their way down to the ground floor and out into his car. Kyra couldn't wait for this.


	4. Blushin' Like A Sinner In Church

**Hey guys new chapter, obviously. Lol. Hope you enjoy. Please review!  
**

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kyra leaned her back against the brown wall in the hallway of her apartment building and sighed contently. Tonight was unlike any other. It was really refreshing. Cobb had asked her out to a beautiful dinner only a few hours ago and she was still reveling maybe some light conversation thrown in. She couldn't have been more wrong. Cobb's hidden charm seemed to win her over pretty quickly.

_"You really do look absolutely beautiful." Kyra felt her cheeks flush a deep red at Cobb's comment. His eyes sparkled when he looked at her. Kyra couldn't help but wonder if he had always looked at her like this. "Thank you, Cobb…uh…Dominic." A smile spread across his face at Kyra's slight embarassment. _

_"You can call me whatever you'd like." Cobb leaned over the table slightly, looking into Kyra's brilliantly colored eyes. "I'm sure you noticed that I wanted this to be more than just a dinner and a movie kind of thing. I wanted to make it a bit more special." Kyra stared into his face, slightly confused at his words. She had thought days, even weeks ago that there wouldn't be any sort of special connection between them but now her brain was beginning to tell her otherwise. _

_"Why?" Cobb leaned back into his seat and sighed slightly. He couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. "Well Arthur told me you were a bit fond of me. So I figured why not ask out such a beautiful girl? I mean…hell…I'm not technically married anymore." Arthur. Kyra pursed her lips at the confession that was made. She couldn't believe him. She had told Arthur that she maybe had a slight crush on Cobb in confidence. _

_Her thoughts were interrupted when Cobb cleared his throat. She noticed that she had been quiet for a little too long. "Oh I'm sorry…" Cobb held up a hand and shook his head. "No apology needed. If you're really not interested you can tell me. I won't be too crushed." Too crushed? Hmm, it seemed to Kyra that Cobb liked her a little more than he had been leading on in recent days." No no…it's not that. I was just thinking of a way to kill Arthur." Cobb let out a small burst of laughter, along with Kyra. Arthur was definitely going to get it once she got home._

_After their meal, Cobb decided to take her for a short stroll down a boardwalk, not too far from the restaurant. It was breathtaking. The lights along the boardwalk lit up so beautifully, Kyra couldn't help but smile at the scene before her. Without her noticing, Cobb had taken hold of her hand as they walked down to the boardwalk. Once she realized what had happened, her cheeks began to flush red again. Thankfully, Cobb hadn't noticed. Kyra took a glance at him and noted the look on his face. He seemed so content to be there with her. He looked like he was in his element. _

_An hour or so later Cobb had dropped Kyra off at her apartment. Being the gentlemen that he was, he got out of the car and walked her up to her apartment. Kyra's mind began to wander and she took in her surroundings. Granted, Kyra had seen this hallway hundreds of time but everytime she looked at it, she couldn't help but think of how much the hallway in her apartments building reminded her of the hallway in a hotel. It was long and somewhat spacious. The walls were a chocolate brown with with lighter brown stripes flowing from the pure white ceiling to the wooden border that ran along the middle of the wall, cutting the wall in half. The bottom half of the wall was a chocolate marble wallpaper. The rug was a chocolate colored rug with some sort of fabulous looking design on it. It was elegent, yet modest. _

_Cobb interrupted her thoughts again as he leaned in closer to her. "Well I had a wonderful night…I'm hoping you did too." Kyra nodded, her gorgeous smile brightening up her face. "Well then Ms. McCloud…it's been a pleasure." He bent down closer and placed a small kiss onto her cheek. Kyra's cheeks flushed again, the smile never left her face. Secretly she wanted more. She wanted him to really kiss her. Then it happened. _

_Cobb pulled back and saw the glint in her eyes. He smiled lightly before leaning in again and placing his lips against hers. Kyra felt like the kiss would last forever and she secretly wished that it would. After a moment or two, Cobb pulled away again and smiled down at the beauty in front of him. "I'll see ya tomorrow, Kyra." Kyra nodded and waved goodbye. She was afraid to speak, afraid her voice would crack or something just as ridiculous. _

She sighed contently once again, recalling the night in her mind. It was lovely. She couldn't be any happier. Kyra placed a hand to her neck and felt her pendant. It felt light and she sighed in relief. She knew that she hadn't been dreaming but she just had to make sure. Just in case, of course. What a disappoint it would have been if she went on an imaginery date with one of her projections.

Kyra turned towards her door and shoved the key into the keyhole, unlocking the door and making her way inside. She took off her coat and tossed it onto the couch. She moved to the front of the couch and plopped down. A grin was still plastered onto her face. She still couldn't believe the nights events. In her excitement, she grabbed her phone off the coffee table and quickly called Arthur to tell him the good news.

"Hello?" Arthur's voice sounded a bit out of it, like he had been sleeping at his desk again. "Arthur? You won't believe what happened!"

Kyra heard Arthur yawn into the receiver. "No, I heard already. He kissed you. I actually just got off the phone with him about 10 mins before you called." Kyra slightly frowned but then a memory of one of the nights events surfaced in her mind. "Speaking of Cobb, Arthur … why did you tell him I liked him? I told you that in confidence. I swear, sometimes you're worse than a woman."

Arthur laughed before answering her. Did he think this was some kind of joke? "Relax. If I didn't say anything…he wouldn't have kissed you tonight. I knew that you weren't going to say anything to him. I just helped pushed you two along is all."

Kyra thought for a moment and concluded that Arthur was right. He always was right. She sighed slightly then let out a small laugh and admitted defeat to Arthur. "Yeah…you better say you're sorry, missy." Arthur laughed at her defeat . "So he told me that he really likes you. He said for the first time, since Mal, he actually feels like he's connecting with a woman. Then I asked him who he was talking about because you're not a woman." He laughed again. Kyra pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. "You're so not funny, Arthur." He continued to laugh. "Okay okay…I'm just joking. You know that."

"Yeah yeah yeah. What else did he say?" Kyra bent over, pressing the phone against her eye. She began to fiddle with her heels, taking them off and letting her feet rest. Leaning back into the couch, she decided to make herself more comfortable by placing her feet gently onto the coffee table and crossing them at her ankles. "Well there wasn't really anything else. Anything about you anyways. He just started talking about what we were going to do tomorrow. That's all."

She frowned slightly. Then again, she knew she really didn't have a reason to frown. Cobb had said the most wonderful thing to Arthur about her. She smiled at the past comment made by Arthur, about how Kyra was someone that Cobb really felt that he could connect with. Her heart fluttered at the thought of Cobb. She couldn't help herself. The kiss he had shared with her earlier. Oh boy. Her heart fluttered again, as Arthur continue to blab on about the next days events. If you were to ask her what Arthur was talking about, Kyra would look at you like you were crazy. And, to be honest, you probably would be crazy to ask her such a thing.

"…Kyra?" Arthur's voice was calm, but he knew she was hardly paying attention to him. "Hm?" She broke from her thoughts, the smile disappearing from her face. It was replaced with a look of confusion.

Arthur sighed. Kyra could only imagine Arthur bringing his palm to his forehead in annoyance. He always did that sort of thing when someone was ignoring him. "Did you hear one word I just said?"

"Oh … yeah, of course."

"Uh huh … then what did I say?"

Kyra bit her lip. She tried desperately to think of something that would make sense. Something that Arthur might have possibly said to her. Of course, she couldn't think of anything, so she did the next best thing. "Well it was nice talking to you Arthur. I'll see you tomorrow…"

"Kyra!"

"Bye!" She hung up quickly and laughed quietly to herself. Kyra leaned her head back and smiled again. Jesus, this girl was starting to get in deep. She grabbed the remote on the small side table next to her and switched the television on. She got up from the couch and decided that it might be a good idea if she got changed before relaxing.

Kyra left her room, in her pajamas and plopped back down onto the couch and began to flip through the channels. There was nothing really that good on but she ended up landing on an old movie. It was an old romantic movie. Perfect movie for her current mood. She grabbed a fuzzy blanket from the other end of the couch and curled up with it.

Overall, it was an amazing night for Kyra. Best night she's probably ever had, in her opinion. She was going to be reeling about this for days. Kyra thought about how tomorrow would be. She wondered if it was going to be weird or if Cobb was going to give her another kiss once he saw her. Of course, Kyra wanted him to kiss her and whisk her off into the sunset but she really didn't know what to expect. She almost prayed that tomorrow would be amazing and that Cobb wouldn't feel weird about kissing her. He seemed to really like it and to really like her. Kyra ended up falling asleep on the couch, the movie playing in the background. The soft voice of the vintage actress telling her beau to kiss her passionately, as his arms were wrapped around her waist.


	5. Hot N' Steamy

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long. A lot has been going on. Had a cheerleading competition. We happened to make it to regionals, so I've been busy with that and I've been fighting a really bad virus! But anways, I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Towards the end of the chapter I was starting to get really tired so I kinda just ended it. There were some things that I really wanted to change but I wanted to get this out because it's been awhile since I updated! So next time I write a sex scene I'll definitely have Kyra be more active! **

**Now...onto the story! Review && enjoy!**

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A bloodcurdling scream sounded from the television. Kyra was wrapped up in a big, fuzzy blanket, her eyes peering over the fabric. She watched intently as a young girl ran through a dark forest, a large, scary man with a hockey mask following closely behind her. Like in all horror movies, the girl tripped and began to sob as her killer moved closer to her, his large machete hanging over her head. He tilted his head as he watched the girl plead for her life. Within seconds, he brought the large weapon down, slicing her head in two. Kyra made a disgusted face as she watched in horror.

The scary man left and a young boy ran over to the deceased girl. He screamed her name. "Rachel! Oh god no! Rachel!" Kyra sat up slightly and leaned in. This was all too intriguing for her. It had been such a long time since she watched a horror movie by herself. She usually had 'movie nights' with some of her girlfriends but this was nice too. For some odd reason, it was fun to freak yourself out every once in awhile.

"Rachel!" His voice was cut short when he looked up and saw the man holding the machete standing before him. The young man was paralyzed with fear for a moment, and then he looked back down at the dead girl. His face grew angry as he looked back up at the man. "You son of bitch … I'll kill you!" He jumped up, grabbing a large stick as he ran towards the man. He swung it left and right, attempting to hit the man. _Smack! _He had hit the guy, but the man merely stood there and stared down at the young man, his eyes lost behind his hockey mask. The hit didn't even seem to faze him. Kyra leaned forward again and shook her head. She spoke softly to herself. "No fuckin' way…"

_Knock, knock._ Kyra looked over to the door of her apartment. She raised a brow before looking over at the clock on the table. It read 1:47 a.m. Kyra stood up and moved over to the door. She peeked out of the peephole, seeing Cobb standing there. What in the hell was he doing there at this time? Thinking for a moment, Kyra grabbed the pendant around her neck, checking its weight. It was light, meaning that it was hollow. She definitely wasn't dreaming. A small smile played at her lips before she opened the door. Cobb looked stressed out. "Cobb? Are you alright?"

He sighed and nodded. "I can't sleep. I called Arthur but he's passed out. I tried calling your phone but you didn't answer. Figured you were asleep but I drove by and saw some flashing lights coming from your window." Kyra cocked her head to the side as she listened to him. She had to admit to herself that it was a bit odd that he was checking up on her. "I'm sorry. I actually just went for a drive and decided to make a detour." Kyra smiled. "Its fine, Dominic. Why don't you come in?" She moved out of the doorway, allowing Cobb to enter. He walked over to the couch and plopped down. "Again I'm sorry for the intrusion."

"No, it's alright." Kyra sat back down onto the couch, wrapping herself up in her blanket once again. "So why couldn't you sleep? What's wrong?"

It was an odd sight but Cobb had blushed a little at Kyra's question. Kyra bit her bottom lip, trying not to smile. She thought the fact that he was blushing was really cute. To be honest, she never thought she'd see the day. Cobb always seemed like such a serious and calm guy, never once did it cross her mind that he really was like everyone else. He had embarrassing moments, he was afraid of something, some things made him sad. He was a normal human being, even though his outward appearance never made him seem like one.

"Well nothing really. I just … " His voice trailed off. Kyra looked intently at him, not wanting to interrupt him. "It's just that I kept thinking about our date last night. I guess I just really wanted to see you again." Kyra's pale cheeks turned a deep shade of red. How sweet. All Cobb wanted to do was see her. "Aw…Cobb…" Cobb leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, stopping her from speaking anything else. Words were useless at this point. Cobb moved closer to her, pressing his body against hers.

Kyra let her hands snake around his head, making sure that he wouldn't pull away too suddenly. Kyra was in bliss. It felt so amazing to kiss Cobb. Not the kiss they had shared the other night. These kisses were way more passionate and full of fire. She felt her cheeks getting hot again but she didn't care. She wanted to live in this moment forever.

"Die motherfucker!" Cobb broke away from the kiss and looked over at the television screen. A chuckle escaped past his lips as he reached for the remote. "Well that's definitely a mood breaker." Kyra smiled up at him as he clicked the television off. Cobb stood up from the couch, holding out his hand. "You have somewhere a bit more… romantic?" He cocked his head to the side. Kyra took his hand and stood up.

Keeping hold of his hand, she led him to her bedroom without saying one word. Kyra turned around, her back facing the bed. Cobb pressed his body against hers once again, locking his lips with her as he did. He loved crashing his lips into hers. It just seemed so right to him. For the first time in a long time, he felt he could really love another woman. Sure, Kyra was a bit younger than him but he didn't care. And it seemed to him that Kyra didn't care either. Age was nothing but a number anyways right?

Cobb put a hand to the back of Kyra's head, as he tilted his head slightly. He kissed with her so much passion. He felt her body press more into his. She wanted to be as close to him as humanly possible. She gripped at his shirt, making sure he wasn't able to pull away from her again. Cobb walked forward, making her step back. The back of her legs were at the edge of the bed, causing her to fall back on it. Cobb moved on top of her. He hovered over her for a minute before crashing his lips into her once again.

His hands were at either side of her head, his legs at either side of her outer thighs. Kyra reached for his shirt again. She quickly unbuttoned it, leaving his shirt hanging. She placed her hands onto his chest, feeling the mass of muscles that were hidden underneath his button down shirt. She traced a finger down his torso, to his abs. She loved every second of it. She loved the feeling of his body. Kyra loved everything that was going on.

Cobb sat up for a moment, only to rip the shirt off of him and toss it onto the floor. Kyra got to really look at his chest. It was a marvelous sight. Again, she traced her finger down his chest as she looked up into his eyes. His eyes met hers. They were filled with lust.

Cobb's hand moved to Kyra's pajama tank top, pulling it up to reveal her bare chest. She blushed a bit as she watched him admire her chest. His eyes met hers again before he lowered his lips to her left breast. He kissed it lightly then gave it a swift lick. Cobb made sure to wait a moment or two before continuing. He wanted to make sure that Kyra was alright with what he was doing. Not hearing any objection, Cobb continued to play with her breast. His tongue slid over her now erect nipple. A free hand moved to her other breast, grasping too lightly at first then tightening just a bit, making sure not to hurt her. He took his index finger and thumb and lightly squeezed her right nipple as his tongue made circles around her left nipple.

Kyra ran a hand through Cobb's hair as he played with her breasts. She closed her eyes and sighed contently. She was extremely turned on by how he was touching her. She could only imagine what else he had in store for her. She wanted to smile at all the dirty thoughts that were running through her head.

Cobb moved his hand from her right breast, down her stomach to her matching capri's. His hand gripped the top of her hand, pulling them down slightly. Kyra moved her hips into the air, allowing Cobb to pull her pants down a bit further, revealing her little pink thong. A smile moved across Cobb's face as he looked down at her panties then up at her face. "You have no idea who beautiful you are."

Kyra smiled before speaking to him. "Hmm…you mean only when you're stripping me?"

Shaking his head, Cobb leaned down placing a kiss onto her lips. "No … how beautiful you always are. Clothed or naked. You're beautiful." Kyra smiled again, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. As they kissed, Cobb's hand worked on getting her out of her panties. He got them far enough down her legs for him to work. Instinctively, Kyra spread her legs apart a bit. She wanted Cobb to touch her so badly. Cobb's hand lingered on her womanhood for a moment before he slipped a finger in between her lips. Cobb could feel how wet he was making her. He smirked at his accomplishment as the tip of his finger moved up to her clit. He gently rubbed her, not wanting her to get too ahead of herself.

Kyra moaned a bit, feeling him play with her clit. She opened her legs more. She wanted to give him more access. Cobb's lips were still attached to her as his finger explored more of her pussy. His finger slid down her slit, finding an opening. His finger slid into place. He moved it in and out slowly at first then quickened his pace once he saw how Kyra reacted. Her eyes were closed, her moan agape as she moaned in pleasure. She let on her legs wrap around his legs.

Cobb continued to slide his finger in and out of her. He felt himself getting harder every second. Kyra was so wrapped up in her own pleasure she didn't notice, until she felt him finger his finger from her. She opened her eyes to see him moving off of her. Cobb stood at the end of the bed and undid his pants. He pulled his belt from the loops and tossed it onto the floor, next to his shirt. Next, his pants fell to the floor. Kyra sat up on her elbows and watched him, a bit intrigued. He moved swiftly, obviously not wanting to keep his woman waiting.

He leaned over the bed, grabbing Kyra by her legs. Pulling her closer to him, he grabbed his erect cock and positioned it. He held it at her entrance. His eyes met her and he studied her face. "You alright?" Kyra couldn't speak, she merely nodded her head. Cobb hesitated and Kyra wasn't really sure why. She sat herself up a bit more. She examined the size of him. He was pretty big. Thankfully, not monstrous but definitely a good size. Cobb was definitely going to make her a happy woman tonight. "Ready?" Cobb looked down at her again. He wanted so badly to just thrust himself inside of her. However, he wanted to be a gentleman or as much as a gentleman as he could be at a time like this. Kyra nodded up at him.

Cobb slowly pushed himself into her. He wasn't fully sure whether she was a virgin or not but he was going to find out in a minute. As he pushed all of his manhood into her, he learned that she was in fact, not a virgin. This didn't bother Cobb one bit. He liked the idea of a woman knowing what to do in the bedroom. It was so bothersome sometimes trying to teach a virgin how to have sex properly and not being boring about it.

In and out, in and out. He moved slowly at first, letting her get used to his size. Then, once he felt comfortable and once he felt that Kyra was comfortable, he began to move a bit faster. Kyra's moans seemed to be getting louder with each thrust. He didn't care how loud she got, even if her neighbor's heard her. Hell, he wouldn't care if the whole city could hear her.

He moved her legs to his shoulders and leaned over her a bit. This action caused him to dig in a little deeper. The sensation was becoming too much for Kyra. Her moans of passion weren't enough. She began to call out his name, telling him to move faster and harder. "Ah Cobb…fuck me harder!" Cobb obeyed her every whim. His mission tonight was to fuck her like no one has ever fucked her before.

It seemed like they were going at it for hours when Cobb started to feel himself reaching his climax. He looked down at Kyra, with his lust filled eyes and he could see that she was nearing hers as well. "Cum with me…" He spoke through moans as best as he could. Kyra nodded up at him, the pressure building inside of her. One last hard thrust sent them both over the edge. Kyra's loud moan pierced through Cobb's ear. He hunched over her and slowly pulled out of her. Climbing onto the bed and plopping down, he pulled her close to him. His voice trailed into her ear. He was clearly exhausted. "That was amazing…"

Kyra smiled, even though she felt she didn't do much of anything. Cobb was in control 90% of the time. The only time she really moved was when he rolled her over and nailed her from behind. She placed her head onto his chest and closed her eyes. "No…you were amazing. I'll have to make it up to you."

That infamous smirk returned to Cobb's face. He let out a soft chuckle. "Round two?"

Kyra turned her head to look up at him, a smirk of her own on her face. "Let me recuperate first." She kissed his lips before closing her eyes once more. Being in his arms felt amazing. Hell, just being next to him felt amazing. Kyra let her mind wander as she drifted off to sleep in Cobb's arms.


	6. Shock

**Just a note: This chapter is very short. I started to get really bad writers block! I want to make the next chapter a lot longer but hope you all like it!**

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The huge grin on Kyra's face was beginning to make Arthur wonder. He looked over at her, studying her face for the 100th time today. Her expression rarely changed. She sat at a small desk in the warehouse looking studio that Cobb and Arthur used as an office. Her pencil glided across the paper, that damn grin never leaving her face. Arthur leaned back in his chair, continuing to stare at her. Kyra got the sense of someones eyes burning a hole into the side of her head. She turned to see Arthur looking at her. She raised a brow. "What…?"

"You've been smiling like a freak all day. What the hell has got you so happy…?"

"Oh nothing." She smiled at him then turned back to her paper. She tried her best not to smile anymore, not wanting Arthur thinking that she was lying to him, even though she clearly was. Just last night, her and Cobb had made love and to be honest, it was the best sex she'd had in a long time. He was so gentle with her, so passionate. She could float away on a cloud the more she thought about him and the act, itself. The edges of her notebook was covered in little hearts with the saying "K.M. + D.C. 4 ever." She was like a lovesick preteen gushing over the hottest celebrity of the week. She could laugh at how ridiculous she was being but she didn't care. She knew that she liked Cobb. She liked him a lot.

At that moment, while Kyra's mind was filled with pictures of Cobb's face, Cobb walked into the room and plopped into one of the chairs. He closed his eyes for a minute, letting himself relax. It had been a long day and he needed to speak with Kyra and Arthur. There was a snag in his plan. "Arthur…Kyra…umm…" He opened his eyes to see them looking at him. Kyra's smile had returned to her face and Cobb couldn't help but return a smile to her. Arthur looked between the both of them, his brow raised. The poor guy was confused as hell. What in the world was going on with those two? His thoughts were interrupted when Cobb stood up, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Look…the man that wanted us to do the Inception is a bit…skeptical. He's not sure if it's a good idea or if it will even work. He's really afraid of how far I want to go and I don't know. He might just back out." He dropped his hand to his side and shook his head. Cobb was clearly disappointed. He plopped back into his seat, hanging his head.

Kyra bit her bottom lip then looked at Arthur. "Well fuck him then…we can always find someone else. Someone more willing." Arthur tossed his pen onto the desk before standing up. "Hell, I'm sure there's hundreds of big business owners that would love to try inception…you know like the last one we did." He turned and looked at Cobb. Cobb looked up at Arthur and slightly nodded. "That's true but we have to wait to find one and God only knows how long that's going to take."

Kyra looked between the two of them, not really sure what to say. She was a bit disappointed that this inception might not go down but at the same time she was sort of relieved. She was afraid to Mal was going to show up again and she was a bit happy that she'd have more time to spend with Cobb. Before Cobb left that morning, he told her that they were going to be very happy for a very long time. It was so sweet and definitely something she wanted to hear. The night almost felt like a dream to her. Cobb was so in love with Mal but Kyra knew that he wanted to move on and he wanted to move on with Kyra. The thought made her smile, once again.

Arthur noticed the smile on Kyra's face and automatically called her out on it. "And you … stop with the damn smiling. This isn't a time to smile."

Cobb raised a brow, his eyes narrowing at Arthur. "Arthur relax. I think I know why she's happy. Just … let her be happy."

"Well why is she so happy, Cobb?" Arthur shrugged a bit, cocking it head to the side. The look in his eyes suggested to him that he was confused.

"I'll talk to you about it later. Right now, we have to figure out how to keep this guy hooked on the thought of inception. We need this." Cobb looked from Arthur to Kyra then back to Arthur. "We need to give him a reason to stick with us. To believe that we can make inception happen for him."

Arthur nodding and began to walk back and forth. You could almost see the wheels rotating in his head. He was silent for a long time, just pacing back and forth. Cobb watched him for a moment then cast a curious look over at Kyra. Kyra merely shrugged then looked back at Arthur. Arthur shook his head and plopped into his chair. "I really have no idea. I mean we can tell him about the last inception we did. Well the idea of it but he already knows how the inception is supposed to work. Maybe we can use him a test subject, you know do inception on him to make him see that it will work."

Cobb and Kyra both raised their brows in amazement at Arthur. "Arthur, have you lost it?" Kyra laughed and shook her head. "I really don't think that would work, not to mention I don't think you want to plant an idea into your consumers mind." Kyra looked over at Cobb, who nodded in agreement. "She's right… doesn't sound like a good plan. However, we can ask him to let us use inception on one of his workers. Plant an insignificant idea into the workers mind to show him that inception exists and that we can make it happen."

Arthur turned and held up a finger, nodding his head. "That could work." The team began to devise a plan on how to get their employer to go with Cobb's idea. They also needed to think of an idea to plant into the workers mind. Kyra was the first one to give an idea. "Why not make it something very miniscule like something the company could use, you know?" Cobb nodded. The only problem was Kyra didn't know what type of business man they were dealing with. Were they dealing with a man who wanted to mess up some competition on wallstreet or were they dealing with something similar to the extraction that she faced only a few months back? Kyra recalled extracting blueprints to some sort of special robot some woman's company wanted. Kyra shrugged at the memory, not thinking anything more of it. Cobb spoke up. "We can always give this unnamed employee the idea that the robots this company wants to make are life sized or something of those lines."

Kyra froze and looked over at Cobb. "Robots…?"

"Hmm?" Cobb turned to Kyra and nodded. "Oh, yeah, robots. The woman that contacted me needed some help with planting an idea into some man minds about robots." Kyra's mouth dropped. There was no way that Cobb could be talking about the same people. Biting her bottom lip, her mind began to race. Finally Kyra just blurted out the question that was burning a hole into her mind. "What was her name…?"

Cobb shrugged his shoulders. "Uhh…Marlene…Marlene Scotts." Oh dear Lord. It felt like someone had just punched her hard in the chest, sending all the oxygen in her body out in one swift motion. She sat there breathless for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. Marlene Scotts was the same woman that Kyra used extraction on a few months ago. She must have wanted to take down Mr. Siegal's empire. Kyra just stared at Cobb then at Arthur, not saying anything. Cobb noticed her abrupt quietness. "Are you all right?" Kyra merely nodded, trying to mask that she was in sheer shock.

"I have to go, guys." Kyra stood up and quickly walked out of the building, making her way to her car. She just wanted to go home and think about everything that was happening. She knew that if Siegal found out, she was going to be in some serious trouble. Siegal was the kind of man that was used to getting his way and Kyra feared that he was going to harm her if she went against him and used inception against him.


	7. Good & Bad

**Hey guys, I'm sorry it's been so long. Life has been pretty crazy. I have a wedding to attend in a month and I'm a bridesmaid! Also, christmas and new years took a toll on me. But here it is, in all it's glory. Hope you guys enjoy! Review please xD**

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kyra sat on her bed, thinking the situation over and over again in her head. There was no way she could back out of his project now. Arthur would be so disappointed, not to mention how Cobb would feel. Their relationship was growing by the day and Kyra didn't want to do something to disappoint him now. Besides, she'd always wanted to work with Cobb. She sighed, bringing her hand to her face and moving back a strand of hair. She was really going to have to sit there and think things through. One scenario after another popped into her head but she kept going back to thoughts of Mr. Siegal. She could only imagine how he would react once he saw her in his dream. What he would do to her once he figured out what she was trying to do to him. God, she even thought about what he might kind of horrors Siegal could do to Arthur and Cobb. She couldn't compromise the safety of her friend and her new lover. There was just no way she could live with herself if something happened to either of them. Kyra bit her bottom lip, as she hung her head and moved her hands up to her face. She closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind for a moment. She needed to think rationally and she needed to come up with a solution quickly.

_Knock knock._ "Kyra…it's me. Are you all right?" There was that ever so familiar voice. Usually Kyra loved hearing Cobb's voice but right now she was too shaken to think straight. She stood up from the bed and slowly made her way over to the door. "Yes, I'm fine."

Cobb wasn't convinced. He stared hard at the door in front of him, his hand on the handle. He gave it a twist, already knowing that it was locked. With a sigh, he placed his forehead to the door. Little did he know Kyra was doing the same thing, as she let out a sigh. She took a moment to get herself together before straightening up and unlocking the door. Cobb her the door unlocked and straightened himself up, as Kyra opened the door. Her face held a fake smile. Cobb frowned. "What's wrong?" He walked past her and sat down on the couch. Kyra slowly turned around and shook her head, not really wanting to look at him. Cobb's eyes were fixed on her face, studying her features. He knew that something was definitely bothering her. Usually when he'd come over, there was a huge smile plastered onto her face. "Kyra," His voice was soft. "What is it?"

With a heavy sigh, she shook her head again before speaking. "It's Marlene Scotts."

Cobb raised an eyebrow at Marlene's name. "What about her?"

"I, uh," She wasn't sure how to tell him, but she knew that she was going to have to. It was better than waiting until the night of the inception, right? Kyra finally looked up at him, worry written across her face. Cobb just stared at her. Kyra could tell that he was worried. She just had to spit it. Just …spit…it …out. "I did an extraction once for this man who called himself Mr. Siegal. He never gave me a first name, it was just . And I had to extract some blueprints or something for some new advanced robot or something." Kyra shook her head, placing a hand to her forehead. "I don't know what to do. If he finds out that I'm trying to take something from him, he's probably going to have me killed." Cobb stared at her for a minute more before standing up and pulling her into his arms. He didn't speak a word, he just held her in his arms. Kyra buried her face into his chest and took in his scent. Now she felt safe, like nothing could ever harm her. She knew that Cobb wasn't going to let anyone touch her.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, until Cobb finally broke the silence, still holding onto her. "Why don't you just watch me and Arthur? That way you're not in harms way." Kyra had to think for a moment. She really wanted to work along side Cobb, she wanted to go into this dream world and make inception possible but at the same time she didn't want to get hurt. Was that selfish of her? She bit her bottom lip. Cobb pulled back a bit and looked down at her. "Kyra?"

"I don't know…I –"

"Kyra…I didn't really mean to ask you if that's what you wanted to do. I meant it more as a 'that's definitely what you're going to do'." His voice wasn't harsh but it strict. Kyra knew he meant business.

"Are you and Arthur going to be okay though?" Her voice was muffled by his chest. She turned her face up to look up at him. His bluish-green eyes fixed onto hers. She felt herself blush a bit. No matter how much they stared at eachother, she always blushed. A small smile came onto Cobb's face, as he nodded. "We'll be fine. You just watch us and wake us up if anything goes wrong. I'm going to have someone sit with you and I'll have to find something to take your place. I promise, we'll make this work." He pulled her close to him again. She could finally relax. Cobb wasn't mad and everything was going to work out nicely.

XxXxXxX

", there's a Ms. Yamamoto is here to see you." Mr. Siegal turned around in his chair to face his desk. He pressed a button on a small remote on his desk and the curtains behind him began to close, shutting out the sunlight and the beautiful cityline of Tokyo behind him. A small Asian woman entered the large room and bowed politely. Mr. Siegal, leaning back in his chair, merely nodded and the woman walked quickly over to the desk. "Kyō wa, watashi-tachi no aojashin o kakutoku shiyou to shite iru hito o miidashita. Kanojo no namae wa," The woman flipped through some papers, kanji scrawled all over them. She stopped one paper and quickly looked up. She was clearly nervous. "Marlene Scotts. Watashi-tachi wa anzen'na basho ni aojashin ga rokku sa rete iru, wareware wa, tokei 24/ 7 gādo o motte imasu." (Sir, I have found out who is trying to gain our blueprints. Her name is, Marlene Scotts. We have locked the blueprints in a secure area and we have guards on watch 24/7.)

Mr. Siegal nodded and waved her off. She turned quickly and scurried out of the room. He spoke softly to himself, a smirk on his face as he turned back to the window, opening up the curtains. "Marlene Scotts," He almost looked like some super villian in a cartoon, the kind that has a cat on their lap. "I'm sorry my dear, but you are not getting those plans back." The cityline of Toyko sparkled as Mr. Siegal gazed out onto it. Mr. Siegal thought of a bunch of ways that Marlene was going to get those blueprints. However, inception never crossed his mind. Hell, even extraction didn't cross his mind. Mr. Siegal thought she would pull something an amateur would pull –sending in a spy to work for Mr. Siegal until he or she somehow broke into the vault and stole the blueprints. He shook his head and laughed.

XxXxXxX

Kyra lay on her bed, next to Cobb. He was gently stroking her hair, his bare chest being used as her pillow. "So was that as good for you as it was for me?" Kyra rolled her eyes and looked up at Cobb. He wore a big, stupid grin on his face.

"Oh yes Cobb, I loved playing Just Dance on the wii. And I loved even more than I kicked your ass." Cobb let out a laugh and quickly kissed her foreward. He mumbled something about kicking her ass next time they played. Kyra merely scoffed at him.

The phone began to ring in the living room, Kyra rolled off Cobb and quickly ran to the phone. "Hellllloooooo" The person on the other end was silent for a moment.

"I don't even want to know why you're so damn happy."

Kyra laughed. "What's up, Arthur?"

"Well I have some good news and some bad news…"

"Hmmm…bad news first." Kyra bounced onto the couch, Cobb walked out of the room a few minutes later and plopped down next to her. He looked over at the phone and gave her an odd look. She mouthed Arthur's name to Cobb and he nodded. He leaned back into the couch and watched her. Arthur's voice was heard faintly on the other line, Cobb tried listening the best he can. "Well you'll have to tell Cobb that I can't find Eames at the moment."

Kyra looked over at Cobb and relayed the message. Cobb let out a heavy sigh and let the back of his head hit the pillows of the couch. "Good news is, I found Ariadne to take your place. Cobb should be happy to see her again." Kyra raised a brow and stared at Cobb for a moment.

"Thanks Arthur. I'll talk to you later." Arthur said his goodbye right after and they hung up with eachother. Kyra smiled at Cobb. "Well Arthur said he found some girl named Ariadne and that you'll be happy to see her." There was a hint of jealousy in her voice as she spoke and Cobb caught on to it quickly. He let out a laugh and sat up. He pressed his lips onto hers and shook his head.

"You don't have to worry about her. She's worked with me in the past. She helped us with the last inception. She was big help."

"Oh, I see." Kyra moved closer to Cobb, placing her head back onto his chest. Cobb looked down at her, a smile on his face. "I promise, you don't have to be jealous of her…even though it was cute when you're jealous." Kyra pursed her lips together and looked up at him. She stuck her tongue out and Cobb quickly caught it in between her fingers. "Nuh uh uh."

Kyra freed herself from his grasp and grabbed the remote to the television and clicked it on. She began to flip through channels then made herself comfortable on Cobb. She fell asleep rather quickly. Cobb sat there, stroking her hair. He began to flip through the channels and stopped on one that caught his eye. Mr. Siegal, was on the t.v. talking about some big plans he had for some robots. It was just a clip from a Japanese news channel, being aired all over the world. They said it was a major breakthrough in technology. Cobb raised a brow as he watched, clearing intrigued. "Interesting…very interesting…"


	8. Darkness

Sitting on her bed, Kyra continued to think over everything that had happened the night before. Cobb had left earlier this morning to pick up Ariadne. Kyra had stayed behind to finish some work around the house. Not to mention the fact that she wasn't all that interested in meeting Ariadne. Kyra was pretty much done with her chores around the house and she was taking this time to think things over. Kyra wasn't too keen on the plan that Cobb had concocted now. He wanted Kyra to watch over Arthur and himself as they went into the dream worlds. The whole was dangerous. She couldn't wrap her mind around Arthur or Cobb getting harmed. Kyra wished so badly that she could just close her eyes, wiggle her nose and this whole situation would just disappear.

A knock came on her door breaking her from her thoughts, she sighed heavily before standing up and making her way to the front door. She already knew it was going to be Cobb. She still had no idea what she was going to say to him. She desperately wanted to tell him to not take the job but she knew that it was going to be worthless to argue such a thing. Kyra knew that Cobb wasn't going to back down from this job, whether they were in serious danger or not. Ugh, this was too much for her to handle.

Kyra placed her hand on the handle of the door and opened it up. She was looking into unfamiliar eyes. Kyra took a step back as the person took a step twoards her and into her home. "Who are you…?" Kyra bumped into a chair behind her as the person shut the door. Whoever he or she was, they were dressed in a long, black coat with a large black hat on. This person looked like the stereotypical spy.

"It doesn't matter who I am. What matters is who you are and what you've stolen." The voice was low and rough, definitely a male voice. Kyra placed her hand behind her onto the chair to steady herself. The man lifted his head. His features were sharp, his eyes dark. His body was husky, but it wasn't fat. Kyra figured he was all muscle under that coat. Kyra shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh yes you do." The man took another step toward her. Kyra could feel her heart thumping against her chest. She could hear the blood pulsing through her ears. The man was close enough to her now that Kyra could feel the heat emanating from his body.

"Please…I really don't know what you're talking about." Kyra's voice had turned shaky. She looked down at their feet. She couldn't bare to stare into his dark, souless eyes anymore. The man made an annoyed sound and grabbed her. Kyra went to scream but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. She had practically frozen in the mans tight grip.

"We both know what you stole and who you stole it from. Let's go." He picked her up in one swift movement and through her over his shoulder. Kyra struggled a bit, but realized soon enough that her efforts were pointless. This man was a lot bigger and a lot stronger than she was.

He made his way to the door and Kyra got a bit bold. She reached out and grabbed the doorframe. Her grip was strong, so strong that her fingers were throbbing with pain as she held on for dear life. "Do something about her!"

He had a partner. Kyra tried to turn her head to see who the man was talking to but as she moved, her vision went black. When Kyra woke up, she had no idea what time it was, how long she had been out or even where in the hell she was. She looked around her and saw nothing but darkness. She felt around her and felt cold, concrete. She was on the floor. It took her a few minutes but she also felt something cold, heavy and metallic on her wrists. She was in cuffs of some sort. Straining her eyes, she tried seeing through the darkness, but it was hopeless. She continued to feel around, looking for a wall. She heard chains rattling. Her stomach tightened, she felt sick. They must have chained her to the wall, like some sort of prisoner. She placed her hands onto the wall that was behind her, it was also cold and felt like concrete. She sighed and pressed her back to the cold wall. What the hell was she going to do now? Who was going to help her? How was she going to get out? A million thoughts ran through her mind, none of them offering a solution to her problem.

**XxXxXxX**

Cobb stood outside Kyra's apartment, knocking on the door. He had called out her name a few times but she still wasn't answering. Cobb placed a hand on the doorknob and gave it a turn, surprised to find that it was unlocked. Raising a brow, he stepped inside and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Kyra…?"

She had to be home. Cobb had seen her car parked outside. Slipping off his coat, he moved further into the house. It was silent, eerily quiet. He walked into her bedroom, hoping that she was just napping. Alas, he found her bed empty and neatly made. _Where the hell is she?_, he thought as he moved around her bed. Nothing seemed out of place and it didn't look like anyone had broken in. Nothing was stolen, turned over. It was weird. It seemed as if Kyra had just vanished into thin air. Cobb plopped down onto the bed and whipped out his cellphone. He punched in Arthur's number. He picked up on the third ring. "Yeah?"

"Where is Kyra?"

Arthur was silent for a moment and when he answered he sounded highly confused. "I have no idea. I thought you were going to her place to see her."

"I did but she's not here. Her car is outside, nothing is missing the apartment and theres no sign of forced entry. It's like she vanished into thin air." Cobb ran a hand through his slicked back, dirty blond hair. This wasn't happening, not now.

On the other end, Arthur sighed. "Cobb, maybe she just went for a walk."

"No…Arthur, she would have let me know ahead of time. Something doesn't feel right."

"Alright, well relax. We'll find her."

"I really hope you're right." Cobb shut the phone and hung his head for a moment.

**XxXxXxX**

Kyra heard heavy footsteps approaching her. She pressed her back against the wall even more. The steps seemed to stop right in front of her. She looked up, but it was useless. She could hardly make out the figure standing in front of her. She heard something click then an orange glow shone across her face. The man held the lighter up to his face, lighting a cigarette. "Hit the lights."

She could heard the loud click of the swith being turned on and within seconds a bunch of bright flourescent lights lit up the room. She quickly took in her surroundings. The room was rather small, there were no windows and it was depressingly gloomy. The man looked down at Kyra, a smirk scrawled across his face. "Well, well … look who's awake."

"What do you want with me?" Kyra's eyes stared into his dark face.

"We know all about you giving away our bosses secrets to another corporation and I must say… she's not happy about it at all."

Kyra swallowed hard. His face changed to an expressionless mask. It was eerie. Kyra spoke in a small voice. "I can't just give it back. That's not how it works."

"We want the blueprints, then maybe we'll let you go."

"I don't have them though."

The man stared down at her, with his cold eyes. "Where are they?"

Kyra was beginning to the shake. The intensity in the mysterious mans voice had grown, he was practically growling at her. "I don't know. Mr. Siegal probably has them."

Kyra was truly terrified. She had no idea what this man was going to do to her. She had no idea what Marlene Scotts was going to do to her. She had seemed like such a sweet, older lady. Kyra wouldn't have expected her to have people locked up in damp, small rooms to force information out of them. Especially, not for blueprints on robotics. Kyra had thought the whole idea was stupid to begin with. To Kyra, robotics didn't seem like a cutthroat business but she guessed wrong. These people were just as bad as mobsters.

The man in front of her tapped his foot on the ground impatiently. "And where is he?" He tried to keep his voice calm but Kyra could see his hands balled into fists at his sides.

"I don't know. He came here when he asked me to find the blueprints."

Turning on his heel, the man walked out of the small, slamming the door shut behind him. Kyra looked around her and in an instant the lights were off again. She let out a small whimper as she rested her head against the wall. She felt and heard her stomach grumble. She was beginning to get hungry. Who even knew if they were going to feed her. She closed her eyes. She wished that Cobb was here. Actually, she wished Cobb would burst through the door and rescue her from this nightmare. This was horrible. What was she going to do?


	9. The Logo

Cobb didn't even know where to start. He paced around Kyra's room trying to think of any place she might be. It wasn't easy though. He always knew where Kyra was. A simple text or phone call between the two of them always confirmed her location. A...simple...phone call…

At that moment Cobb grabbed for his phone again and flipped it open. He scrolled through his contacts until he got to Kyra's name and hit the call button. Without realizing it, he held his breath, hoping and praying that she would pick up and tell him that she was at a cafe somewhere drinking a latte. Or maybe she was at a friend's house catching up on things. Cobb just wanted to know that she was okay. That she was safe and that his worrying was over nothing.

He shut his eyes and shook his head once he heard her cell phone ringing in the next room. _Damn…_ He followed the sound, thinking he would find her cell phone on her coffee table or one of the side tables. It was extremely possible that he just missed it. But no, her cell phone was lying on the floor, almost hidden under the couch. With an eyebrow raised, he bent over and picked it up. His name and number flashed on the screen as he stared at it.

Now he knew something was wasn't right. Kyra wouldn't run out of her house and leave her cell phone there, not unless she was in a hurry. Cobb knew though that there wasn't anywhere she was really supposed to be. Not class, not some sort of job interview. Nothing. Her schedule was clear.

Cobb hung up his phone. Still watching the screen, he saw his number disappear and in its place was a 'missed call' screen. He quickly punched in Arthur's number. Arthur didn't even a chance to fully say 'Hello?' when Cobb went right into talking. "Arthur…something is really wrong. I found her cell phone under the couch."

Arthur had his doubts but as Cobb went on, he began to realize that things weren't adding up either. "Look around the apartment again. Look for something that might tell you where she is."

Cobb was frustrated. He had already looked around the apartment. To be honest, this would be his third time doing so. He ran a hand through his hair and agreed. He told Arthur to stay on the phone as he looked. He started in the living room, the first room you entered when you walked into the apartment. Everything looked fine, like when he had first walked in. Nothing out of place, nothing out of the ordinary. Then he moved to the bedroom, the bathroom, her small kitchen. Everything looked fine. Besides finding her phone tucked away under the couch, there was nothing else there that he could find. This was turning into a 'find it' game and right now he was stuck with no more hints.

"This is useless, Arthur. There's nothing here." Arthur could hear the agitation in Cobb's voice. He sighed and rubbed his temple.

Cobb opened the front door of Kyra's apartment and began to walk out of it when he noticed something on the ground. He hadn't noticed it before, but then again, he wasn't exactly looking for anything before. He had no reason to. "Hold on a minute, Arthur," he said as he bent down to pick up a small piece of folded paper. Cobb unfolded the paper and stared at Kyra's address scribbled across it. At the top of the paper, in the center was a company logo. It looked like a half moon and the words 'Robotech Inc.' in capital letters. Cobb had to think for a moment. He knew he had heard that name somewhere.

_"So what was this company's name?" Cobb looked over his cup of coffee at Kyra, his brow raised._

_"Robotech Incorporated," Kyra began. "The woman's name is Marlene Scotts. She wanted some sort of blueprint for some robot or something. I thought it was stupid." She shrugged as she picked up her cup of coffee and sipped it. _

Kyra. Kyra had done a job for Robotech. Cobb couldn't understand why these people would come after her but then it hit him. She was stealing information for another company and trying to make it look like she was working for Ms. Scotts. "Shit…"

Back at the warehouse, Arthur sat up in his chair and quickly asked Cobb what he found. He demanded to know what was wrong. He needed to know and he needed to know now. Kyra was one of his best friends; he would be devastated if something horrible had happened to her. Cobb began to explain to Arthur what he and Kyra had discussed one night. He then told Arthur that Marlene Scotts had found out about Kyra's treachery and ordered her to be brought in. Cobb wasn't sure of what kind of danger Kyra was in. He could only pray that they weren't harming her.

"I'll meet you at the warehouse. We're going to find her…"

**XxXxX**

Kyra felt like she had been there for days, maybe even weeks but she knew it had only been a few hours. She felt nauseous. She had no idea what these people would do to her and she really didn't want to find out. Maybe if she knew where the blueprints were, they would let her go. However, she knew that even if she did know and she told them, they were not going to let her leave. She had a feeling that they would take her life regardless of the information she gave them.

It was horrifying. Truly horrifying and she had never thought she would find herself in this position. Who would ever think they would end up like this? Chained to a wall in a dark, lonely prison?

Kyra's mind began to wander. She thought about Cobb and Arthur. What were they doing now? Were they looking for her? Did they even know she was missing? They probably had no idea. They were probably making up the plans for their next dream sessions. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes. It was pointless. She couldn't escape. She couldn't scream for 'help.' There was no way of contacting Cobb and telling him where she was. There was no hope. She was already dead.

The sound of heels clicking against stone caused Kyra to pop her eyes open. Dread filled her. Who was that and what were they going to do with her? The last time she heard footsteps, they definitely didn't sound like heels.

A door creaked open, the clicking sound got stronger, indicating whoever it was, was getting closer. Kyra's stomach began to hurt as her nerves worked themselves into frenzy. The clicking stopped and Kyra immediately wanted to hide, even though she knew that there was nowhere.

"Kyra…" She knew that voice immediately. When she had first heard it, it didn't bother her but now it started to fill her with fear. It was Marlene. It was the last person she wanted to see or hear from. "Kyra, please tell me where the blueprints are now. If you do, I won't harm you."

Kyra shook a little as she tried to press herself closer to the wall. "I already told them, I don't know."

Marlene made an annoyed sound. There was no use in getting overly upset. She just started interrogating the girl. "Please, Kyra. I know you know. Please, just tell me and this could all end. We can pretend like it never even happened."

Kyra told her again that she didn't know and this time her voice shook. She hated feeling so weak and pathetic. She wished she could act like some heroine like Wonder Woman or Xena and bust through her shackles, defeat the bad guys and leave. This wasn't a movie though, this was reality. And the situation was dangerous.

"Xavier, come in here please." At that moment a man walked in. A tall man with jet black hair, oval eyes and a bad attitude. He sneered at Kyra before turning his attention to his employer. "Xavier, do me a favor and hand give me my weapon of choice."

Weapon of choice? Kyra swallowed hard. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. She watched as Xavier pulled out a small knife and handed it to Marlene. She walked over to Kyra and quickly grabbed her face, tilting it back. She held the blade up to her eye and glared down at her. "Where is it, Kyra?"

Her cold voice penetrated Kyra's ears. Her eyes darted to the blade and began to well up. She cried out as tears fell from her eyes. "I told you I don't know!"

This must have been enough to make Marlene finally believe her. She backed off and handed the knife back to her accomplice. "Well then, we'll just make you find out where it is. I'll make up some plans and come get you once they're finished."

She turned on her heel and walked to the door. Xavier was in front of her. When he walked out, Marlene stopped and looked over her shoulder. "You will get my information back and you will make my competitor forget about what he saw, do you understand me?"

Kyra whimpered and nodded her head. God, how she just wanted all this to be over. She wanted to be in her bedroom wrapped up in Cobb's strong embrace.

The door slammed shut and Kyra burst into tears. How much more of this was she going to be able to take?


	10. Aislin

**Hey guys, I know I haven't updated in awhile and I completely apologize. I've been busy and have had some serious writers block. Now this is a bit of a warning, this chapter is a little short, only because I didn't want to give away TOO much for the next chapter. The next chapter will probably be on sometime between the 21st and 23rd of this month (May.)**

* * *

Cobb was hurrying out of the building. He didn't even bother to take the elevator down. Instead, he ran down the stairs, skipping the last step and grabbing the handle to the door that lead to the lobby. Pulling open the door, he ran through it and crashed into someone. It was woman, who at first glance, looked to be about Kyra's age. Cobb was a little put off for a moment but he finally realized what happened and began to apologize. "I'm so sorry. I'm in a rush. I didn't me-"

"No worries. It's cool." She said, holding up a hand and shaking her head. Cobb gave her a once over and noticed something about the girl that he didn't notice right off the bat. The girl was wearing one of Kyra's hoodies. It was very possible that this girl could have just bought the same hoodie at some store but this hoodie was unique. Kyra's hoodie had a tear on the left side of the hood, where the string goes. Everything else on the hoodie was fine, except that damn hood.

As Cobb continued to examine her, the girl raised a brow, now feeling uncomfortable. "Um…I think I should be going now."

When she started to walk away Cobb piped up. "I'm so sorry but where did you get that?"

With her brow still raised, the girl turned back to him. "Get what?"

"That hoodie."

"Oh…well it's my friends. I was actually just going to visit her. Why?"

All of the air in Cobb's lung suddenly left him. His tongue slid over his bottom lip as his mind worked quickly. This girl was Kyra's friend. Or maybe she wasn't her friend and she had taken her. "You're a friend of Kyra's?"

At that point, the girl had turned to start walking away again. Her hand reached out and pressed a button near the elevators, waiting for one to come down. She looked over her shoulder, confusion written on her face. It was obvious that she had no idea who Cobb was but it surprised Cobb that Kyra hadn't even mentioned him. "Yeah … and you … are?"

"My name is Dom Cobb. I've been seeing Kyra for some time now."

"Ahh…so you're the new squeeze," she said with a smile. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Aislin."

Cobb nodded at her, and then extended his hand to her. "It's nice to meet you. Do you know where Kyra is?"

Ace looked even more confused now than she did a few moments ago. She shook her head and told Cobb that Kyra was supposed to be staying home tonight to study. Or at least she thought she was studying. Cobb then explained everything to Ace. Well, he explained that she was missing. Aislin was in a bit of shock. Cobb placed a hand onto her shoulder and told her to come with him. He was going to get her back no matter what. Kyra was the only other person, besides Mal and his children, that he really cared for.

Cobb waved his arm, summoning a cab to pick him up. Aislin was at his side, nervously biting her bottom lip. Her arms were wrapped around her, her eyes staring at the objects in front of her absently. Cobb turned his head back to look at her. His lips pursed slightly. "We'll find her. I'll make sure of it."

When a taxi pulled up, they both hopped in. Cobb gave the driver an address before digging through his pocket and pulling out a cell phone. He flipped through his contacts and clicked on Arthur's name. "Yeah?"

"Arthur, I have a friend of Kyra's with me. She's going to help us find her."

Arthur was silent for a moment, mulling over what Cobb had just said. "Cobb, we may have to use extraction to find Kyra. We don't have time to train this girl."

It was true; they really didn't have the time. Cobb figured, though, that she could still be of some help. She could always monitor the boys as they went into the dream world. It didn't take a genius to handle that job. "Don't worry, I have a plan."

Aislin had been watching Cobb talk to Arthur on the phone. She stayed silent, too worried about Kyra to really say anything. Before she knew it, they had arrived at their destination and Cobb was already climbing out. She followed him into a building, going up a few flights of stairs before reaching a decrepit looking studio. Aislin's eyes scanned the room until they fell upon a man with slicked back black hair, dress pants, a dress shirt and what she thought to be a vest. He looked her up and down then gave her a small smile. "Hi, I'm Arthur."

"Aislin. Nice to meet you." Ace walked over to a lounge chair and plopped down onto it. Looking to her right, she saw a table with a metal briefcase on it. Arthur was now standing in front of the table, looking at some sort of papers. Ace let out a small laugh and shook her head. "Kyra didn't tell me you were extractors."

Cobb stared at Aislin as Arthur stared at Cobb. Cobb opened his mouth to speak. "How do you know about extractors?"

With a shrug of her shoulders, Aislin answered with a "Because I am one."

Arthur turned to look at her, this time a genuine smile on his face. "Looks like we just saved ourselves a lot of time."

"Meaning?" Ace narrowed her eyes slightly, not sure of what he was talking about.

"Well, we're probably going to have to extract the location of where Kyra is from either her former employer or one of the goons that kidnapped her."

It made sense to Ace. The only way to really find out where Kyra was being kept was to do a little digging and that digging was going to have to be in the dream world. Ace mentioned to the guys that it would be a lot easier for them to get the sought after information from one of Marlene's henchman. Cobb, however, had a slightly different idea. An idea that Arthur rolled his eyes and shook his head at. "Cobb that's a hundred times more difficult. Aislin's way is easier and probably a lot faster."

"Yeah it is but Marlene wouldn't expect us to do it my way."

Ace bit her lip again. The idea made her nervous. Hell, it made her want to talk out of there and have the police deal with it. However, Kyra was her friend. She couldn't leave it to the police, especially since Kyra hadn't been missing for twenty-four hours. She closed her eyes and finally said, "Okay let's do it."


End file.
